


Sinking

by sukikobold



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Alternate Scene, Family, Friendship, Gen, Héctor being a good papá, before he actually knows he's a papá, hey Ernesto got a drowning rescue scene, why can't he?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 07:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14444832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sukikobold/pseuds/sukikobold
Summary: Okay, tbh, I just wanted to rewrite the cenote scene with Héctor being heroic.





	Sinking

Héctor had been in the land of the dead for almost a century. He’d become used to failure in that time: failure at crossing over, failure at reconciling with his family, failure even at finding an empathizing ear for his troubles. He had come to expect failure, even accept it in some cases. It was part of who he was, until now.

For the first time, he had someone to blame for his misfortunes. For all of them. Ernesto. Backstabber. _Murderer_. Héctor called him that and more as he was dragged, screaming, out of the mansion; out to the back, the side no welcome guest ever saw. He struggled against the guards, but his limbs were too old, too broken, too sick to keep him from being dragged to the edge of a cenote and thrown into it like a ragdoll.

He hit the water hard and the impact smashed his body to pieces. His head sank and the liquid muffled all the sights and sounds of the outside. Thankfully, drowning was not something he had to fear as a skeleton. Héctor willed his bones back to him. Even putting himself back together again had become more difficult in spite of decades of practice. His back was brushing against the bottom of the pool by the time his body was fully reassembled. He felt the rocky floor to find where it sloped upwards and crawled along it until his head broke the surface. His soaking clothes and hair weighed him down as he climbed onto the stone island at the back of the cave. His hat, which had been blown off in the fall, lay at an angle on the rocks ahead. Héctor half-crawled to reach it.

With his straw hat between his damp fingers, he looked up. A dark, immensely high cavern rose around him, with only a patch of distant night sky peering down through the unreachable entrance. He was trapped. There were only a few hours until dawn. No one would come looking for him. And Ernesto had his only photo.

Ernesto. That murderous _rat_. If Héctor hadn’t trusted him- if he hadn’t wasted his whole evening trying to get here, he might still have a chance to go home, to see her one last time. If he hadn’t wasted the whole night with that kid, he might’ve- the _kid_.

Héctor’s rage faltered. The chamaco was still with Ernesto. A _child_ was with Ernesto. Héctor shook his head. They were family, so what was he worried about? Surely Ernesto wasn’t so heartless as to hurt his own family, even if the boy did learn about the betrayal. Miguel would be sent home to his family, and Héctor…Héctor would vanish. Forgotten.

A golden shudder ran through his bones and he folded forward. It was already happening. Weakly, he pushed himself up and headed towards the back of the cavern, away from the light. Darkness seemed inviting right now.

Héctor heard a yell in the distance. An aftermath of Ernesto’s party, no doubt. He ignored it. The shouting grew closer until it was echoing off the walls. Then there was a splash. Héctor twisted around. Waves rippled out from the center of the lake where the water was foaming. Something much heavier than a skeleton had fallen in.

 _No…no, he wouldn’t_ , Héctor thought in disbelief as the waves dispersed. No one could be that cruel, not to a child, his own _grandson_. Not even Ernesto could be that heartless, right?

The water was eerily still now and Héctor’s breath began to hike in his non-existent lungs. Why was nothing surfacing? For a split second he saw Miguel’s face, happy and energized and breathless all at once, after he had given his first performance ever.

Héctor tore off his hat and flew towards the water, nearly stumbling in his rush. He dove clumsily into the lake. The opening of the cavern provided barely any light, which was further dispersed by the depth of the water. Héctor could just make out a small figure in red floating above the lakebed. Héctor’s thin, bony limbs provided little contact with the water and made his progress achingly slow, despite him kicking ferociously.

To his relief, the boy began to stir as Héctor reached him. Héctor hooked a bony arm around Miguel’s chest and kicked off the bottom. Miguel, fully awake now, struggled against the grip. _No, Chamaco, I’m trying to help!_ Héctor fought to keep his hold until they finally broke the surface.

Miguel gasped and sputtered as he gulped in the much needed air. He clung to Héctor now, the closest floating thing in his proximity. Héctor was pushed underwater many times as they headed to shore together, but he didn’t mind. They dragged themselves onto the rocks and after his second bout with the heavy water, Héctor wasn’t sure he could even stand. Instead, he looked over to where Miguel was bent over the ground. He was leaning on his elbows and still coughing and panting from the ordeal. The boy slowly pushed himself onto his knees and looked up.

“…Héctor?”

Héctor smiled in spite of everything and placed a hand on the bewildered boy’s shoulder.

“Hey, Kid. You okay?”

Miguel stared at him, as if processing the question. Then his features tightened and a quiet sob escaped his throat.

“Héctor!”

Miguel threw himself into the skeleton’s arms, much to the latter’s surprise. He pulled back almost as quickly, shaking with emotion.

“You were right! I-I should have listened! I should have gone back to my family!”

Héctor stared as the boy continued on about how he should never have left his family, how they warned him this would happen, and what he regretted saying to them. His wet hoodie sagged off his shoulders and revealed bones showing through them and beginning on his neck. This boy. This _child_ , whose own great-great-grandfather had literally thrown him away after all his adoration and what he went through to reach him, was falling to pieces before his eyes. It broke Héctor’s heart.

“Hey, hey,” he hushed, placing his hands on the sniffling boy’s shoulders, “It’s okay, Chamaco.” He pulled the child into an embrace and Miguel clung to his coat, sobbing into it. “It’s okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I think I just really wanted a scene with Héctor rescuing Miguel. Also them singing "Remember Me" together at some point. My two unfulfilled wishes from the movie.


End file.
